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Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy as she was being escorted out of the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in December 1998

Third update: McCarthy was executed. She was declared dead at 6:37 p.m.– 20 minutes after she was given the lethal dose. She said she was going to be with Jesus. She did not address the victim’s family.

Second update: About 60 protesters against the death penalty gathered near the prison where McCarthy will be executed.

Some of the protesters gathered at the expected execution of Kimberly McCarthy in Huntsville.

Some held signs that read “STOP EXECUTIONS IN TEXAS, “DON’T KILL FOR ME” AND “STOP KILLING TO STOP KILLING.”

One of the protesters, Olinka Green of Dallas, said that she was standing “in solidarity” with both the Booth’s family and McCarthy. She said that she believes the death penalty should be abolished.

Though she did not question McCarthy’s guilt, she said she had no opinion on whether McCarthy was guilty.

Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers have blocked off the street in front of the building where the execution will take place.

Update: HUNTSVILLE — In the hours leading up to the execution, McCarthy was joking with prison staff and was “pensive” but “not downcast,” said John Hurt, the director of public information for the Texas prison system.

When the warden asked McCarthy about whether she planned to make a last statement, Hurt said that McCarthy “kind of laughed and said ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk.’”

She is also scheduled to meet with her own spiritual adviser after meeting with the prison chaplain earlier today.

Original post 2:43 p.m.:

HUNTSVILLE – Kimberly McCarthy has arrived at the Texas prison nicknamed “the Walls Unit” where she is expected to be executed tonight for the 1997 murder of Dorothy Booth in Lancaster.

Dorothy Booth

McCarthy will be the 500th person executed in Texas since the death penalty was reinstated.

McCarthy’s trip to the death chamber is being treated no differently by the prison system than the one before it or the one that will come next. But McCarthy’s execution is gaining more outside attention because of the milestone.

“We are treating this execution as we do all the others,” said John Hurt, director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. “We realize that there will probably be more interest from the public than usual, but we expect the McCarthy execution to proceed in the same manner as any other.”

McCarthy can meet with her spiritual adviser and attorney before the execution, which is scheduled for around 6 p.m. No appeals are pending, so the execution by lethal injection is expected to take place, barring unforeseen circumstances.She will also speak to the warden about what will happen to her body and who is witnessing the execution. She can make telephone calls to say goodbye.

Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the murder of her neighbor, Dorothy Booth. If the execution is carried out, she will be the 500th person executed in Texas since they death penalty was reinstated.

She has been given a new white prison uniform and can eat the same meal offered to all other inmates: pepper steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, mixed veggies and white cake with chocolate icing.

“And she will walk unrestrained into the execution chamber,” said Jason Clark, a public information officer with the prison system.

Her execution is expected to be witnessed by the family, of Booth, a retired college professor.

McCarthy, a crack cocaine addict, stabbed Booth to death during a July 1997 robbery. Prosecutors at trial said McCarthy attacking Booth after using the pretense of borrowing sugar to enter Booth’s home. McCarthy severed Booth’s finger while she was still alive and traces of Booth’s blood were found in McCarthy’s home.

McCarthy received a second trial because an appellate court ruled her confession to police was illegally obtained. The second jury reached the same conclusion as the first and sent McCarthy to death row.

McCarthy indicted but never tried in the December 1988 deaths of two other elderly women. Maggie Harding was stabbed and bludgeoned with a meat tenderizer. Jettie Lucas, 85, was beaten with a claw hammer and stabbed with a knife.

Kimberly McCarthy is expected to be executed Wednesday for the 1987 murder of her neighbor 71-year-old Dorothy Booth.

Dorothy Booth

McCarthy will be the 500th modern execution in Texas if the execution is carried out.

Maurie Levin, McCarthy’s attorney, said this evening that McCarthy has run out of appeals. Levin had asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its denial of McCarthy’s appeal. The court refused.

Levin said in an email:

We are deeply disappointed that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied Ms. McCarthy’s appeal. Today’s order by the CCA refuses to look at her claims, trumping form over substance, and foreclosing any possibility of review. As a result, Ms. McCarthy will be executed despite the fact that her conviction and death sentence were the result of a process that was infected by discrimination and race bias, and inadequate counsel appointed by the state. As a result, she will be executed despite the fact that no court has ever reviewed the merits of those claims.

Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the murder of her neighbor, Dorothy Booth. If the execution is carried out, she will be the 500th person executed in Texas since they death penalty was reinstated.

The shameful errors that plague Ms. McCarthy’s case – race bias, ineffective counsel, and courts unwilling to exercise meaningful oversight of the system – reflect problems that are central to the administration of the death penalty as a whole. For this to be the emblem of Texas’ 500th execution is something all Texans should be ashamed of.

Randy Browning, Booth’s godson, said today that he hopes Texas “fulfills its promise” and executes McCarthy.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell ordered Monday a change in the execution date for a woman sentenced to death for killing her elderly neighbor, Dorothy Booth, during a robbery in Lancaster.

The order moved the execution of Kimberly McCarthy from this week to June 26.

McCarthy has been tried twice for the murder of her 71-year-old neighbor Dorothy Booth.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins requested the change Fridayto see if any of the six bills pending in the Texas Legislature pass. The DA’s office would then determine if they impact McCarthy, who killed Booth in 1997.

Watkins has said he has no doubt that McCarthy is guilty and will be executed. He said the delay is more about the process of death penalty cases in Texas than McCarthy’s individual case.

The six pending bills look at issues ranging from whether race was a factor in the prosecution or sentence to whether police interrogations were videotaped